Southern fringes ? the rapidly mushrooming localities to the south of the city. Includes Behala, Jadavpur, Garia and Narendrapur. There are a number of educational institutes and lavish shopping malls in this area. This is a relatively newer part of the city where a lot of expansion is going on.
South Kolkata ? the posher part of the city. Covers Ballygunge, Bhawanipur, Alipore, New Alipore, Rash Behari,and Tollygunge.
Esplanade ? the colonial district is still the central business area and is considered the heart of Kolkata. Made up of Park Street, Mirza Ghalib Street (Free School Street), Dalhousie Square, Chandni Chowk, Barra Bazaar and Sudder Street.
Maidan ? The area consisting of the huge park and its surrounding neighborhoods. Includes Fort William, Strand Road, Khidirpur, Dufferin Road, Hooghly Bank and Chowringhee.
North Kolkata ? the older area of the city, a fascinating district dominated by narrow little lanes and hundreds of century-old bulidings. Includes Chitpur, Bagbazar,Belgachhia,Shyam Bazaar, Shobha Bazaar, Maniktala, Jora Sanko and the famous College Street area. Also situated here are the Sealdah station, one of the largest train hubs in India, and the newly built Kolkata station. Dum Dum being the prime communication hub of Kolkata having International Airport, Metro Rail, Circular Rail, Ground Rail.
Northern fringes ? the large industrial area to the north of the city. Includes Kashipur, Dumdum, Belghoria, Khardah, Panihati, Titagarh etc. where there are a number of factories, including jute, paper, cotton, ordnance and chemicals.
East Kolkata ? Rapidly developing, specially IT sector and home to India's largest mall. Encompasses Salt Lake City (Bidhan Nagar), Rajar Hat, Lake Town and the E.M. Bypass. Many five star hotels, theme parks, posh housing estates and techno parks are being built in this area.
Howrah ? while technically its own city, Howrah is very much a part of the Kolkata metro area, and Howrah train station is where you'll arrive/depart from if connecting with anywhere north or west of Kolkata.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Kolkata
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Kolkata - updated May 2024
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Kolkata Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
